Wednesday, July 12, 2006

For the July 4th holiday I did several different things (other than finally sweep and mop the entire house).

Saturday a few folks from the CaFCP and I went to Sierra Nevada brewery in Chico for a tour. After 2.5 hours of driving, we missed the brewery tour, but got what we really came for (other than dinner & beer): a tour of the fuel cell power unit and associated water treatment facility! The owner is a big environmentalist, and it was nice seeing the things he was able to do to self-electrify and clean the brewing wastewater at the same time. I hadn't hung out with Adam and Chris for a long time, so it was good to spend some quality time together, and it was much more pleasant than being at work.

Sunday was cleaning and sleeping day. But Monday I took myself on a roadtrip to the Jelly Belly factory, then through Napa into Mendocino to see the "famous" California geyser and petrified forest. Had lunch at the worst restaurant in Wine Country and was sick the rest of the day, so after the forest I decided to cut my trip short. Took the 128 home, which was quite possibly the only road in California that wasn't packed that weekend, and practiced my driving skills on the twisties. I'm getting pretty good at engine braking!

Tuesday evening the neighbors had me over and lit firecrackers in the street. Luckily the cops didn't rough us up too much.

That's the most excitement I've had outside of work in a long time - I need another weekend to recover!